Last updated at 12:22, Thursday, 03 May 2012

On-loan Whitehaven starlet Shane Ackerley is poised to make his Gateshead Thunder debut at Workington Town on Sunday.

Shane Ackerley

The promising full-back is likely to be joined in the Thunder line-up by fellow Haven prospect Danny Barker.

“It will be a nice trip just down the road so they’ll be quite happy,” said Thunder boss Kevin Neighbour. “They will go to prove a point. Danny played against Doncaster and we were very impressed. We are going to hold on to him for as long as we can. He’s enjoying it over here and is very happy.”

The loan duo have trained with Gateshead for a couple of weeks and Ackerley is yet to feature for the perennial underdogs, who have not beaten non-amateur opposition in their last 53 games. He is seen by Neighbour as a full-back who can also play on the wing.

“He’s in contention this week, and we’ll see how it goes from here,” added the coach, who will also try to hold on to the ex-Ellenborough ace in the longer term, if he creates the same strong impression as back-rower Barker.

“We know they are going to be hungry to play and motivated to get in to the squad.

“Derwent Park is a very hard ground to play at, and they’ve had some good results this year. We know it’s going to be another hard slog. We are progressing each week and just need to get over that barrier and get a win. We’ve come close on a couple of occasions and got a couple of bonus points.

“My aim personally is not to finish bottom of the competition. It’s realistic and certainly achievable, there’s plenty of time.”

First published at 11:30, Thursday, 03 May 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk